New series down in the Sunshine State
Fresh off a series win over the rival Rangers the Athletics will switch gears and take on a National League foe for the weekend series. The A’s better have brought their sunscreen before leaving Sacramento because they’re heading south to Florida to take on the Miami Marlins.
Miami enters the series with a 12-18 record, last in the NL East and the third-worst record in the NL. They’re coming off getting swept at home by another California team in the Los Angeles Dodgers and have lost five in a row. They’ve struggled on both sides of the ball but especially with their pitching staff. Their current staff leader is Max Meyer with a 3.18 ERA and four quality starts. The rest of the Marlins as a whole have one quality start and all of their starting pitchers have ERA’s above 7 (except for second-year righty Valente Bellozo who’s sporting a 2.25 ERA in just two starts and is slated to make the start tonight). Their pitching depth has been tested early due to injuries and it’s shown.
Miami’s offense has been a bit better. They’re currently sixth in all of baseball with a .255 team batting average but they’re more in the middle of the pack in terms of runs scored (tied for 14th with the A’s with 135 runs), OBP (15th), OPS (15th), home runs (T-19th), and stolen bases (15th). Their best position player has been outfielder Kyle Stowers and it’s not even close. He’s leading the Marlins in just about every offensive category except for home runs (behind three-outcome-hitter Matt Mervis). If the pitchers are careful with Stowers they shouldn’t have too big of a challenge ahead of them.
The A’s on the other hand are riding high entering this series. As stated above they just took three of four in Arlington to begin their road trip and now sit a couple games above .500 as May gets underway. Outside of Tuesday when they needed a spot starter the club’s pitching was terrific in Texas as they allowed just two runs in three of those games (and 15 on Tuesday but let’s ignore that). And the offense did just enough against a tough Rangers pitching staff, coming up with clutch hits in key spots. Shortstop Jacob Wilson stayed hot going 5-for-13 with a pair of key RBI hits. The A’s as a team only hit three home runs the entire time in Texas as the power drought continues.
Tonight’s game will kick off the series with a major league debut for the Athletics. Right-handed starter Gunnar Hoglund will be making his big league debut tonight. The former 1st-round draft pick has dealt with injuries since arriving to the A’s organization in the Matt Chapman trade with the Blue Jays. He’s finally healthy and pitching up to his draft pedigree and now he’ll earn a shot in the big leagues with an A’s team on the look for another starting pitcher.
Miami meanwhile will counter Hoglund with Bellozo in his first start since the first week of April. As stated above he’s had two solid starts for the Marlins and with the way their pitching staff has been playing lately it’s fair to assume Bellozo will have a chance to earn a long-term spot on the roster and in the rotation. Let’s not make it easy for him and get to the young righty tonight.
Saturday’s game will see the Athletics send out Osvaldo Bido to make his seventh start of the season. He’s got a bloated ERA of 4.31 but he’s been one of the A’s better pitchers this year along with Sears. One ugly outing has inflated his ERA but if you were to remove that one appearance he’d have a much better 2.57 ERA. He’s been on a roll all season and it’s looking like the A’s may have struck gold with Bido.
The Marlins will counter with right-hander Max Meyer, the 3rd overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft. The 26-year-old made his big league debut with a cup of coffee in 2022 but an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery ended his season and wiped out his 2023 year as well. Meyer recovered and returned, seeing extended action in the big leagues last season making 11 starts for Miami. The results weren’t great but getting him healthy was the priority. This year he not only looks healthy but like who the Marlins thought they were drafting. He has an encouraging 3.18 ERA over his first six starts here in 2024 but he’ll head into this contest on a down note after yielding five runs in his last outing.
The finale on Sunday morning features JP Sears versus Marlins young starter Edward Cabrera. The left-handed Sears has been the Athletics’ best pitcher this year so far as he’s sporting a team-leading 2.94 ERA entering what will be his seventh start of the season. The 27-year-old Cabrera meanwhile began the season on the IL due to a blister on his right middle finger but has since returned to make four starts so far this year. Once seen as a building block for the Marlins the former top prospect hasn’t gotten off to a great start as he’s sporting a 7.23 ERA in just 18 2⁄3 frames so far in what is his fifth big league season.
So how many can the Athletics steal in Miami before heading home to Sacramento? We shall see!